


now we're there, and we've only just begun

by mazzawitz



Category: The Martian (2015), The Martian - All Media Types, The Martian - Andy Weir
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-13
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-26 11:59:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6237742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mazzawitz/pseuds/mazzawitz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Their own bubble. That made Earth sound a lot more manageable.</i>
</p><p>Conflict, family, future.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. conflict

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again! 
> 
> As I've mentioned before, some stories just don't belong in a broad collection.
> 
> This is a short series of longer, connected works in which Chris & Beth specifically deal with figuring out life after Ares 3 and integrating themselves into each other's families. 
> 
> The very end of this first chapter jumps ahead in time a little bit, but the next will pick up when they arrive home, just FYI. 
> 
> And, that second chapter will be brand freakin' new, meaning not even posted on Tumblr yet. Watch this space. 
> 
> (Title from "This Will Be Our Year" by the Zombies.)

**i.**

On the _Hermes_ , they were insulated from the outside world, from things like bills and relatives and schedules. Beth and Chris recognized that--they knew their weird life situation granted them a certain level of protection from some normal disagreements. But they were also in a close, confined space with one another for over two years. And about a third of the way through that, their close, confined space became even smaller, in the form of a single bunk. How could they not get under each other’s skin every now and then? 

Their first real conflict hadn’t been very dramatic, but it was still uncharted territory for them. Not too long after they rescued Watney, Beth got sick. Something made her throw up (Chris knew it was the sleeping aid she took without any food ahead of time; she wasn’t so keen on admitting she’d needed one), and per NASA regulations, she had to stay in isolation for the next 24 hours. 

Everyone knew it wasn’t a real virus, just a one-time occurrence, but rules were rules. If you threw up, for any reason, it was 24 hours away from the others.

On their initial trip to Mars, much to everyone’s amusement, Watney had gotten motion sickness from staring out a window too long. He threw up and had to stay in his room for a day, because Dr. Bossy Beck wasn’t one to forgo medical regulations. (NASA’s murky, only semi-official fraternization regulations, however… eh. Those were more like suggestions.)

Beth begrudgingly climbed into bed, surprised with how annoyed she was by the idea of being away from the crew’s operations for that long. Five years ago, she would’ve been thankful for a day of mandatory isolation.

She felt like shit for quite a while after throwing up (who doesn’t), but since she wasn’t at all contagious, Chris stayed in bed with her almost the whole time, watching the weird kung fu movies she had on her laptop and keeping her company.

She appreciated it. She really did. She just didn’t enjoy feeling like a patient, especially when she knew nothing was _really_ wrong. 

When Chris took her temperature for the fourth time in 18 hours, she snapped. “Would you be doing all this if it was any one of them, and not me?” she growled after he pulled the thermometer away. 

He looked up from the readings, confused. “What?” 

“We all know none of this is necessary.” She hated herself as she heard the words coming out of her mouth, but she couldn’t stop now. “You don’t need to treat me like a baby just ‘cause you care about me more.” 

He folded his arms, and when she saw the beginnings of a hurt expression crawling across his face, she looked down, picking at the fuzz on a blanket. 

“Beth, I know it sucks being corralled in here, but if it was anyone else, I’d be doing the exact-–” 

"Mrrrrm, shut _up_ , don't be such a doctor," she grunted, huffing a sigh as she fell backward on the bed, pulling the blanket over her face. Taking that as a solid refusal of any further communication on the topic, Chris didn’t bother finishing his sentence, and recorded her temperature in the log instead. 

“I’ll bring you some food in a while,” he said quietly before he slipped out of the room. He hadn't planned on leaving anytime soon, but he didn't exactly feel like his presence was wanted anymore. 

She’d thrown up around 10:30pm the night before; now it was 4:30pm the next day. Between doing whatever work she could from her bed, watching movies with Chris, and having him monitor her status, she’d only slept for a couple of two-hour increments here and there. The reason she took that sleeping aid, after all, was because she was tired, so she let herself fall asleep.

When she woke up a few hours later, there was soup and a limp grilled cheese on the tiny desk beside her bed, stored within an insulated container to keep the food hot. Hungrier than she realized, she sat up and started to eat. 

She quickly remembered her last conversation with Chris and felt terrible. Of course he was just doing his job. She was just a grumpy, impatient asshole who’d taken out her frustration on the one person--person she loved or not--whose job it was to care for her health. 

Beth gulped down the soup and nibbled on the sandwich as she opened up her laptop. Her little nap meant her crewmates hadn’t gotten their emails from home at the usual time, so she downloaded and sent out the data dump right away. Hopefully Chris would see his emails and take that as a sign that she was awake. If he even felt like being around her after her nasty little outburst, that is. He had to know that deep down, she was annoyed at the situation, not at him, right? 

Sure enough, not even ten minutes later, the door cracked open and his head poked in. “You alright?” he asked. 

“Mmhmm.” She was propped up against the pillows, blanket tucked around her and hood over her head. Something about the whole getup made her look smaller than usual, and Chris couldn’t help but crack a slight smile. 

He was still standing in the doorway, and she could tell he was unsure of whether or not he should come in. God, she’d just been awful to him, and he was still concerned about giving her all the space she needed. She reached her arm out, beckoning him toward her with her a wiggle of her fingers. His faint smile grew as he sheepishly entered the room and sat on the bed, leaning back next to her. 

In the past, Beth had never been good at apologizing for anything, but to her own surprise, that wasn’t the case now. “I’m sorry I snapped at you,” she began, her voice quiet but sincere as she leaned her head on his shoulder. She brought her legs up to her chest and latched her hands onto his sturdy arm that gently circled around her knee. 

“Don’t worry about it,” he murmured before planting a kiss on her head. 

“No, I was an ass,” she insisted. “I know you’re just doing your job. I was grumpy and I didn’t mean any of that.” 

“I know,” he said against her head. “Believe me, nobody wants you back out there more than I do.” 

She knew that, too.

He patted her knee a few times. “Did you eat?” 

She kissed his shoulder and then sat up straight. “Yeah. Thanks for bringing that.” She scavenged under the mess of blankets to find her laptop. “Can you handle another shitty movie? You still haven’t seen the last few I have.” 

“Gladly,” he said with a smile. 

_This boy is a saint_ , she thought to herself with a smirk as she brought up the movie and pressed play. She leaned back onto his chest, soaking up his warmth. 

“You do give me special treatment, by the way,” she said. 

Chris frowned. He thought they’d moved past this. “How?” 

“None of the others get to sleep with their hot doctor.”  


  


**ii.**

The next time they _really_ argued was a few nights before their return to Earth.

They’d finally received the agenda from NASA: Upon landing near Cape Canaveral, they'd receive medical checkups in quarantine before boarding a plane for a quick flight back to Houston. Then, they'd see their families but stay in the Johnson Space Center medical facility for at least two full days and nights. After that, they’d be kept around JSC for a few weeks for an abundance of health tests, mission debriefs, and media obligations, but they’d at least have their evenings free to spend however they pleased. 

Beth’s parents would travel to be there, as would Chris’s parents and sister. Chris wanted their families to go out for a group dinner so everyone could get to know each other. Beth wasn’t so sure that was the best idea. 

Technically, their parents had already met at their launch. Family members of all six astronauts had been there to see them off, and they’d all mingled, eaten lunch together, and shared nervous hugs and hand squeezes. The difference, of course, was that none of that had been under the pretense of _Nice to meet you, our kids are together and we’ll probably be in-laws before too long_. 

“But when else will everyone be in the same place?” Chris pleaded. “Our parents live on opposite sides of the country.” 

They were straightening up their little room before bed, trying to get their piles of clothes organized. Despite not taking many personal items to space, a bunk could accumulate a surprising amount of clutter after a two-year mission. 

Beth sighed. “They’re gonna be happy to see us, shouldn’t we just let that be enough?” 

“What does that even _mean_?” he asked, exasperated. 

“I just…” she started, mindlessly folding a shirt he'd bundled up. “Can’t you see them holding grudges against us? My parents against you and yours against me. Because of the extra time we spent up here.” 

He frowned, confused, and Beth threw the shirt to the side, clearly not hiding her frustration. “Don’t roll your eyes at me,” Chris said. “I don’t understand what you’re saying.” 

“What if they view us as part of the reason we decided to stay up here and they resent us because of it? You know my parents felt betrayed when I said yes to staying, and don’t act like yours weren’t bitter about it too.” She hesitated. “Do you even know what kind of terms you’re going to be on with your dad when you see him?” 

He sighed and turned away from her, gently kicking a pair of shoes away from the door. The truth was, he didn’t know. 

One of the few times Beth had seen Chris cry was when he told her about the heated exchange he had with his father just hours before their launch. They were about a week away from their rendezvous with the resupply probe, and he couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that if it failed and they had to instigate Plan B, their argument would be his dad’s last memory of him. For some reason, he felt suffocated by the thought that night, and Beth had held him as he fell asleep, reminding him that even though he was their doctor, he was allowed to be vulnerable and broken too. _Chris, all you do is take care of us_ , she had said. _Let me take care of you this time_. 

Despite the multiple reassuring emails and conversations they’d both had with their parents throughout the duration of the mission, there was a good chance that tensions could still be running high. It was a valid concern--neither of them were right nor wrong. He was simply on offense while she was on defense. 

Beth spoke again, much softer. “They don’t even know we’re together yet. It’s not like it’s some dark secret or anything, but… I’m scared my parents will direct all their stress onto you, as if you kept me up here.” She paused. “I don’t want that to be their first encounter with you. Or for yours to think that about me.” 

It was true--they hadn’t told their families about their relationship. They had agreed not to, since neither of them had any idea how to relay the news over email. _Hey, Mom and Dad, all’s well up here. I know you’re worried about me, but don’t be--I’m finally fucking that crewmate I’ve been in love with this whole time!_ They figured they should mention it in person. 

Chris sighed and sat on the other side of the bed. He looked over at Beth, who was staring down at her hands. Finally, he spoke. “I suppose I’ve been hoping all the life and death shit would blow everything over with my dad. I guess maybe it’ll seem like that for a while, but then we’ll have to deal with it.” He grimaced, imagining the tense conversation. 

They sat in silence for a while, until he spoke again. “I just… I think this whole thing has taught us both that life is short, and you gotta take opportunities when they’re right in front of your face.” 

He was right about that. Beth didn’t disagree. But for so long, she and Chris had been safe from any outside forces, and she wasn’t sure she was ready to add her parents’ personalities into the mix. She and Chris had this thing, this beautiful, wonderful thing, and it was far too easy to imagine a world’s worth of tensions threatening it. 

Beth nodded. “I know what you mean.” 

She loved her parents. She loved her parents _dearly_. But she often felt like she lived in a separate world from them, with very few bridges that connected the two. She didn’t know how to articulate her underlying fear: What if they drove Chris away? 

Chris looked at her intently, reading the side of her face he could see. “What aren’t you saying? You’re holding back.” His voice was gentle but determined. 

Beth sighed. “My parents aren’t super easy to be around. You know I love them, but they can’t comprehend the way you and I see the world, the way that isn’t always safe or satisfied with what’s right in front of us. And…” She bit her lip, unsure how to continue. 

“And what?” 

She shrugged, still not looking at him. “And I guess I worry about that driving a wedge between us that we haven’t had to deal with up here.” 

Chris swung his torso around and sat cross-legged, facing her. “And you think I’ll bail, or something?” he asked, his voice skeptical. 

“No, no, I just…” she said, reaching instinctively for his hand. _But maybe?_ she thought. Was she really worried about that? Hearing him say it out loud made her realize how ridiculous and unfounded of a fear that was. He wouldn't do that.

She finally faced him. “I don’t think you’ll _bail_ , I’m just scared of us both being way more overwhelmed than we’re prepared to deal with when we get back.” 

He nodded slowly. He understood, he really did. If he remembered anything from the psychology coursework he’d done as a part of his MD, it was that disagreements like this were often places where personalities simply diverged. He had more of a natural tendency to let things play out as they would, whereas she was more meticulous, more caught up in the outcome of every move. It was why he loved letting the findings of his research take him wherever he was going next, and why she was so good at coercing a piece of code into behaving exactly how she wanted.  

With a deep breath, he closed both his hands around hers. “You know, we’ve been in a bubble up here, but it doesn’t completely go away when we get home. We’ll be back in real life, but you and me, _this_ bubble doesn’t disappear. This comes first, and we choose what we do and don’t allow to come in here.” Beth watched him speak, touched by his sincerity. 

He laughed a little. “If your parents hate me, that’ll suck, and I’ll do everything I can to fix it, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t get past our bubble. ‘Cause we won’t let it. Same goes for you and my parents.” She nodded, now feeling the tears of affection springing up in the corners of her eyes. 

“Fuck going to dinner,” he said, and she laughed. “We’ll decide that later, okay? Once we tell them and see how they react and get a reading on the vibe, we’ll decide if we should have everyone meet up or not. But just promise me you won’t totally count the idea out, okay?” 

She smiled and nodded. “I can do that.” Her voice cracked on the last syllable. 

“Don’t _cry_!” he pleaded, and soon they were both laughing as he pulled her close and ran a reassuring hand through her hair. 

“I’m not, I’m not,” she laughed as she wiped the corners of her eyes. “You just got me there for a second.” 

She leaned into his shoulder, breathing in his scent as his hand rubbed her back, and felt a sense of serenity for the first time in a few days. Their own bubble. That made Earth sound a lot more manageable. 

  


**iii.**

Back on Earth, despite the adjustments, the attention, (the full gravity), and the calm that followed, they didn’t have fights--at least not _those_ type of fights. Neither of them were screamers or door slammers. In fact, they were both the type of people that could be mad at you for a month without you ever knowing. They didn’t play that game with each other, though. 

They had arguments, disagreements, spats, tense conversations--usually about the same handful of things. Chris checking in on Beth’s sleep schedule too much, for instance. Because they no longer had a strict sleep schedule to adhere to, he slept like a rock, and she drifted in and out. She often got up at night and walked around or worked a little. Sleeping breaks, she called them. It was fine, and it worked for them, but Dr. Beck came out every now and then, wondering if she was getting enough sleep. Then they’d argue about him trying to change her habits, and he’d roll his eyes, and she’d scowl, and one would call the other a weirdo, and life would go on. 

They knew each other well enough to know they should sit down at the beginning and plot out how finances were going to work. Bills were split, life was supported equally. When they went out to eat, or to a movie, or on a road trip, they took turns treating each other, because they liked doing it. Nobody was tracking every penny to make sure their spending was completely equal, but that wasn’t the point--balance was the point. Mutual reliance. Sharing. 

(It wasn't long before they figured they should just switch to a joint checking account, though. Because they were all in.) 

Of course, not all of life’s conflicts were practical ones, like who paid for what or who used the last of the toilet paper and didn’t replace the roll. There was the bigger question of what they were going to do next.

When they were fully cleared by NASA and their families had left town, they hopped on a plane and relaxed on a beach for a week. They needed it, not just to have time completely to themselves, but also to act as a midway point between the isolation of space and the whirlwind of real life. At night, they could eat a nice dinner at a fun, crowded restaurant, but then they could walk a mile down the beach and be totally alone again. 

They knew they were going to stay in Houston for a while, at least until their major projects with NASA--those that extended beyond their Ares mission--were wrapped up. There were lots of talks, some in the car and some in bed late at night, about what opportunities lie ahead and where they might end up next. 

Both had their natural moments of concern here and there. What if they each got offers they wanted to accept, but in different cities? How would they decide what to do? That was a real possibility, but they tended to avoid the question. 

One night, after a particularly overwhelming week in terms of the _What’s next?_ question, Beth turned to Chris as they were falling asleep. 

“You know you’re my priority, right?” she asked. 

“Huh?” He was half-asleep and slightly caught off-guard. 

“I feel like we’ve danced around this question of where we go next, and I want you to know that you’re what comes first, above and beyond any job or any city or anything else. You’re my priority.” Her voice wasn’t sheepish at all; it was blunt, concise, perfectly sure of herself. 

He studied her face and saw the earnest look in her eyes. She meant it. 

“And you’re mine,” he replied. “Always.” She knew he meant it too. 

They didn’t need to say anything else. They came first, and nothing would change that.

That was how they navigated conflict, time and time again. They were scientists, after all. 

Scientists didn’t yell at each other. They identified problems, worked at them, made their arguments, and always kept the bigger picture in mind. Chris and Beth knew from experience--literally--that life was too short and too fragile to behave any other way. 

As long as they kept doing that, they’d be just fine. 


	2. family

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As promised, a brand new mini-story about our favorite space nerds. I've been wanting to explore the idea of them telling their families about their relationship for a looooong time, and I feel like this flows nicely from where the last chapter left off. 
> 
> Next up, future. That'll round out the trifecta.

###  _the day after arriving back to Houston **  
**_

Birds chirped and a breeze rustled through the trees. 

Beth usually wasn’t one to spend too much time outdoors, but after the last two years, she couldn’t get enough of it. 

“When are you planning on getting your stuff out of storage and finding a new place?” her mom asked as they walked, interrupting her mini nature meditation. Beth opened her mouth to speak but couldn’t decide on words quick enough, so her mom kept going. “I had a feeling that wasn’t the best idea, since now you have to rush. We can stay long enough to help you--” 

“Mom. It’s fine,” Beth interrupted. “That actually, uh…” She tucked some hair behind her ear and took a breath. “So, I should tell you that… Well, you know my crewmate Chris--Beck, our doctor--right?” She didn’t wait for either of her parents to respond. “He and I have… a… thing.” 

Beth paused for a moment as they reached a picnic table in the JSC courtyard and sat down, inwardly mocking herself. A _thing_? A ‘thing’ is what people called it in college when they’d been texting with someone they liked for a week. 

She looked up at her mom and dad. “We’ve been together for like a year and a half,” she said. Both her parents raised their eyebrows, not appalled, but definitely surprised. 

“I obviously wouldn’t have kept that from you under different circumstances,” she added quickly. “The only reason we didn’t tell you--he didn’t tell his family either--is because we weren’t sure how closely NASA screened our outgoing emails, and we didn’t quite… know how they would feel about it.” 

Her dad chuckled a little, amused. “I was gonna say. Is that even allowed?” 

Beth smiled in spite of herself as she rolled her eyes. “Not technically,” she said. “But this mission involved a lot of things that weren’t technically allowed.” 

“Fair enough,” he said with a smile. 

She turned to her mother, who still hadn’t said anything. “So, Mom, uh… We’re going to get my stuff from storage and move it into his place once we have a break from all this.” 

Her mom nodded slowly, and Beth took a moment to read her expression. “I know that might sound sudden since you’re just hearing this, but we’ve essentially been living together for two years,” she added, her voice a little quieter. 

Beth didn’t know why she felt so apprehensive about having this conversation with her parents. It wasn’t like she was a 15 year-old asking permission to go on a date with a boy. She _did_ feel bad about keeping this from them, and even though she didn’t like to admit it, she sometimes worried that they might judge her for it--‘it’ being hooking up with her crewmate on their mission, even though that was an awfully trivial summation of something that meant way more. 

That worry resurfaced as she waited for her mother to say something. 

“Well that’s--that’s good, Beth. Especially if you’re that serious about each other and you’re happy,” she finally said. 

Beth nodded. “I am.” 

Her mom shifted in her seat as she continued. “I just--I can’t help but wonder if… _[Here we go, thought Beth]_ Did it happen just because you were the only ones up there?” 

“Sue--” her dad tried to protest, only to get a wave of dismissal from his wife. 

“If you go through all the effort to move in together, are you sure it won’t just be a fleeting thing once you have, you know, more people around you?” she finished hesitantly. 

Beth had resorted to staring down into her lap about halfway through her mother’s questioning. She shook her head. “No, Mom, don’t you think I’m smarter than that?” she asked as she looked up. “I’ve only just told you about this, so please don’t pretend like you know every single detail, okay?” 

She sighed before continuing. “It’s not like we just got bored one day. It’s been--I don’t know, it goes further back than that. We’ve been drawn to each other since early on, since before we even launched,” she mumbled, a little embarrassed to be defending her relationship to her parents like this.  

After a few silent moments, her mother nodded, a solemn look on her face. “I’m sorry, hon,” she said. “That was shitty of me to ask.” 

Beth couldn’t help but smile. Her mom never swore unless she really meant it, and it usually ended up sounding silly coming from her. 

Her mom took a deep breath. “I’ve just spent so much time worrying about you these last few years, and I guess I need to start breaking the habit," she said. "You’ve been through so much, and I just… I want this to be as easy as possible for you, getting back to normal. I can’t imagine what that’s like.” She sniffled, and her husband put a reassuring hand on her back. 

Beth nodded and reached across the table to squeeze her mom’s hand. She knew her parents well enough to know this wasn’t an out-of-the-ordinary response from her mom, and she figured the least she could do was give them a break after the years of worry she’d put them through. 

“It’ll be easier for me with Chris, okay?” Beth said, still holding her mom’s hand. A wave of emotion slammed into her all of a sudden, and she focused on a tiny speck on the table to keep herself composed. “He’s really special,” she continued softly. “We helped each other get through everything up there. It wasn’t easy for any of us either, deciding to stay.” 

“We know it wasn’t,” her dad managed to say. 

Beth got up and went around the table to sit between them on the other side. She leaned her head against her dad’s shoulder and held her mom’s hand in her lap. More than anything, she figured they just needed to be reminded that she was healthy and home and safe. 

They sat there in silence for a while, just enjoying each other’s company. After a while, her dad patted Beth’s knee and turned to her.

“So, normally I’d say, ‘When do we get to meet this Chris,’ but I suppose we’ve already met him. Although I’d still love to meet him more officially, you know,” he said, smiling. 

Beth laughed. “Yeah, of course.” 

She’d initially been hesitant about the idea of their families meeting up, out of fear that her parents might resent Chris for ‘keeping’ her in space for longer than planned (as if anyone but herself could convince her to do something like that). But unless her mother was secretly boiling with rage on the inside, Beth now felt confident that she didn’t have to worry about a reaction like that. 

“I think NASA’s ordering dinner for all the families tonight, so he’ll be there with his parents and sister,” she said. “And then maybe we can all go out again before you all go home.” 

“That’d be nice,” her mom said. “Where do his folks live? His mother’s very sweet. I’ve talked to her a bit.” 

“Hartford. Same house he grew up in,” Beth answered with a small smile.

Her mom returned the smile. “Well. I’m happy for you, hon. I’m glad you had someone to lean on through all of this.” 

_Me fucking too_ , Beth thought. 

“So wait,” her dad said with that jokester look on his face that she’d known since she was a toddler. “Was this happening before you even launched?” 

“No,” she laughed, rolling her eyes. “All I meant was that… I don’t know. He’s always been my closest friend in the crew, and I guess it just built up over time. If it had been a normal mission, we wouldn’t have broken a rule like that, but…” She shrugged and looked down. “Then everything went to hell and it was the only thing we had that didn’t suck.” 

_Really eloquent_ , she thought. But true. 

“Well, you were never one to stand idly by when the rules were dumb,” her dad joked with a proud smile. 

Beth and her mom both laughed. Then, her watched beeped. 

“Free time’s up. Back to debrief,” she said as she stood up. Her parents followed her lead. 

The pair smiled and accepted hugs from their daughter. “So we’ll see you at dinner?” her mother asked. 

“Yeah. Go out and enjoy yourselves, okay? You’ve had enough of sitting around and waiting.” 

“We will. Say hi to Chris,” her dad said, that teasing look on his face again. 

Beth smiled and rolled her eyes. “I will.” 

\---

Beth slipped into the common area where the rest of her crew had assembled just as a NASA assistant arrived to take them to their next debrief session. The whole group was in good spirits since they’d just had two hours to relax with their families. 

As they walked down the hallway, Chris discreetly made his way over to Beth’s side. “How’d it go?” he asked, his voice low. He knew she’d been nervous about telling her parents. 

“Good,” she said. “My mom was a little weird at first, but at least she admitted she was being weird. They’re excited to ‘officially’ meet you tonight,” she added, raising her eyebrows as she made air quotes around ‘officially.’ 

Chris chuckled softly.

“And you?” Beth asked, her eyes inquisitive. 

He nodded. “Good. Amy’s a little too excited, I think. You definitely got the big sister approval.” 

She smiled up at him just as the group entered the large meeting room. They snapped back into nothing-more-than-crewmates mode as Dr. Kapoor and his team greeted them, but not before Chris made sure to brush innocently past Beth’s arm as he walked, gently squeezing a few of her fingers before taking a seat. 

\--- 

###  _earlier_

“God, that’s good,” Chris sighed, staring down at the to-go coffee cup from which he’d just taken a giant swig. 

Free time didn’t mean being allowed to leave JSC yet, so Amy had gone out to get him a treat from his favorite coffee place in the area. The two of them were sitting on a bench near the JSC parking lot, waiting for their parents to arrive from their nearby hotel. 

Amy snorted. She’d never seen a person so excited to drink plain old coffee. “All mediocre food is going to taste like five-star dining to you for the next year, isn’t it?” she joked. 

“Yuuuup,” Chris answered. 

Some movement in the distance caught their eyes. It was Beth, walking with her parents from their rental car to an entrance on the other side of the property. 

“I’m obsessed with her, by the way,” Amy said casually. 

Chris scrunched his brow, confused. “Huh?”

Amy nodded her head toward Beth and her parents. “Johanssen, your crewmate. She’s so fucking cute. And cool. I like, want to be her best friend.” 

Chris coughed as he swallowed some more coffee, then laughed out loud as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. And to think he’d wondered how to bring this up. 

“Oh, come on,” Amy said. “You can’t tell me you’ve never at least thought she’s cute.” 

He leaned back on the bench, amused, and watched with a smile on his face as Beth and her parents disappeared into the building. “Oh, I have.” 

Amy peered at him, noting the relaxed, happy look on his face. 

“And I might be able to arrange the best friend thing, actually,” he said before chuckling again and looking down. “She’s moving in with me, Amy. We’ve been together for like a year and a half.” 

Amy’s mouth dropped open as she stared at her brother in disbelief. “Shut up,” she said. “Shut the fuck up.” 

Chris snorted a laugh. Saying it out loud to someone who didn’t already know felt even better than he’d imagined it would. 

Amy’s mouth was still gaping open, but her shocked expression had turned into one of excitement. “Are you seriously telling me you started dating your super hot crewmate in space?” 

“I am,” he smiled.

She squinted her eyes. “And so are you _also_ telling me you’ve been having sex in space?”

“Amy…” Chris groaned, shaking his head at her as he rolled his eyes and fought an involuntary grin. 

“I’m going to take that head shaking as a response to my questioning style, not my question,” she smirked. 

He laughed, and she shoved him playfully to the side. “My little nerd brother is a _stud_.” 

Chris just laughed again as Amy settled back against the bench. 

“So when were you planning on telling me this?” she asked. 

“Now, actually,” he said. “I was going to tell you all at once. The only reason I didn’t before was because we weren’t sure how closely our communications were being monitored.” 

She couldn’t blame him for that. “Speaking of the devils,” she said, noticing their parents walking toward them across the parking lot. 

Chris downed the last of his coffee and tossed the empty cup in the trash as they both stood up to greet them. The crew had seen their families the day before, so this wasn’t their big reunion, but his parents couldn’t be blamed if they hugged their son for a little longer than their daughter for the next few days. 

When his mom finally let go of him, Amy spoke up. “Well, I’m going to go use the bathroom while our Christopher here tells you a particular piece of news he just told me.” She smirked and turned toward the building, Chris glaring after her. 

Rolling his eyes, he turned back to his parents, who both gave him inquisitive stares. He motioned for them to walk with him. 

“So,” he began. “What she means is… You know Beth Johanssen, from the crew?”

“Yeah?” his mom replied. His dad nodded. 

Chris took a deep breath. “Well, I know this’ll be… surprising, I guess, but she and I are together. We have been for over a year.” 

His dad raised his eyebrows, and his mom’s face lit up. Then, she squinted her eyes, clearly measuring time in her head. “So you… got together while you were up there?” she asked slowly.

Chris nodded. “Yeah. Which, well, normally would’ve been breaking a rule. Not even really a NASA rule, our commander’s rule. But a lot changed up there, and…” He shrugged. 

By this point, they’d made their way inside and were waiting for Amy outside the restrooms. When she emerged from behind the door, she quickly adopted a smug look as she read her parents’ expressions. 

“I take it he’s told you, then?” she asked, smirking. 

Their dad chuckled, but looked a little curious. “Did you already like her? Or did it just happen up there?” 

Amy looked expectantly at Chris, who crossed his arms. She actually didn’t know the answer to that. 

“Yeah, I did. I fell pretty hard for her all the way back in training, actually,” he said, looking down with a small smile. 

Amy turned to her mother, and they shared a glance--a proud _Oh, he’s in love_ glance.

His dad clapped Chris hard on the back. “Well, I’m happy for you, bud. I bet that’s not exactly what you expected to get out of a trip to Mars, huh?” 

Chris laughed and shook his head. “Nope.” 

His mom beamed at him, clearly delighted. “She seems lovely, from the few times we’ve been around her.” 

“And badass,” added Amy. “She like, programmed your whole spaceship, right?” 

“She did,” Chris said with a smile. “And yes, she’s both of those things.” 

His mother smiled again. “So what’s… what’s next, then?” 

Chris raised his eyebrows and exhaled. “Well, she ended her lease here before we left, so she’s gonna move her stuff from storage in with me,” he said. “Once all this crazy debrief and media stuff is over, we’ll probably go escape to a beach for a week or something. And then, who knows. I don’t think any of us know yet.” 

Three happy faces smiled at him. This was good. They liked this. 

“She the one?” his dad asked after a few moments, a teasing but fond look on his face.

“ _Jeffrey_ \--” his mom scolded, swatting his arm. 

“What? Just asking.” 

Chris chuckled. “Yeah. She is,” he said softly, looking down and rubbing the back of his neck. “But we’re not that far yet. Just… don’t get ahead of us, okay?” 

His dad gave an understanding nod. Amy looked between her parents and did a dorky little happy dance. His mom pulled him in for another hug. 

“Guys, it’s not like we’re buying a house and sending out invitations,” Chris joked, clearly thinking this much celebration wasn’t necessary. 

His mom gave him a patented mom look. “We’re just happy for you, Chris. You deserve to be happy after all this.” 

Chris smiled. “Thanks. I am.” 

“And now the _important_ question--not that I’m not excited to see you too--is when do we get to hang out with Beth?” Amy asked. 

“Agreed,” added their mom. 

Chris laughed. “She’s with her parents now, and then we’re busy for the rest of the day. So dinner,” he replied. 

“Well, I’m looking forward to it,” his dad said. 

Chris smiled again. “But, uh… I’m not sure where we are with NASA knowing. Obviously our crew knows. But keep this on the down low, okay?” 

His parents nodded. 

“Mmmm…” Amy teased. “I can try.” 

\--- 

###  _that evening_

The JSC cafeteria was covered with catering tray after catering tray of the best barbeque Houston had to offer. The crew, all their families, and a good amount of the Ares 3 mission staff bustled around, stuffing themselves silly and enjoying each other’s company.

When Melissa Lewis’s husband left their table to go load up on a tray of seconds, she took a moment to look around at her crew. 

Mark Watney and his parents were at a table with the Martinez family. David was keeping them all entertained with an enthusiastic, slightly nonsensical description of some movie Marissa had taken him to.

Vogel and his family took up a whole table. The kids were noisy, and it looked a bit chaotic, but Alex looked like he was loving every damn second of it. 

Her smile was the biggest when she landed on the third table. Beth and Amy sat at one end, engrossed in a lively conversation. Mrs. Johanssen and Mrs. Beck were chatting at the other end, and their husbands were talking in the middle. 

Chris, sitting somewhere between them all, wasn’t fully engaged in any particular conversation. He was leaning back in his chair, observing the rest of the group with a content smile on his face. 

Lewis watched him for a few moments until he happened to catch her eye from across the room. They shared a smile, and she raised her can of Heineken to him in a subtle cheers. 

Chris laughed and gave a nod of thanks. 

Scanning his own table again, his eyes met Beth’s for a brief moment. She smiled, and he smiled back. Then she turned back to Amy. 

Chris took a sip of his beer. He had a feeling the future held a lot more of this. 

He couldn’t fucking wait. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I said, this is brand new, so I don't know how anybody feels about it! Pretty please lemme know what you think.


	3. future

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Third and final chapter for this fic trio! I'll of course keep updating the other series of one-shots I have going.
> 
> For a little extra context (in addition to the first two chapters), the premise is centered around this little holiday snippet I wrote for no reason at all a while ago:
>
>>   
>  _For their first Christmas back on Earth together, Beth goes with Chris to stay with his family in Connecticut because she’s never had a snowy Christmas. His sister and her family are there, and they get along great – his whole family adores her, really. His aunt in particular can’t get over the fact that they’ve both been to Mars and they spent all that time in space: “There’s nobody else in the world who understands what you went through up there, Christopher. You hang on to her.” For once, Chris is the one who gets slightly embarrassed every time she says that, but Beth finds it hilarious and likes to tease him by saying, “It’s true, you know.”_
>> 
>> _It’s cold as shit and Beth can’t believe it’s physically possible for humans to live in that weather. She’s not complaining, she’s just baffled by the fact that they survive every winter. When Chris walks her around town to show her his high school and the field where he used to play in Little League, she wears a black beanie that her short hair sticks out from under, and her nose turns red because of how cold it is, and Chris can’t stop smiling at her. She thinks he looks pretty damn cute all bundled up too._   
> 

“Can we sneak out there?” 

Chris laughed. “We don’t have to sneak, there’s a gate down there that’ll let us through.” 

He’d walked Beth around downtown Hartford, past his elementary school, and over to the baseball field where he’d played in little league and for his high school team. 

Now, they passed through the gate and trudged across the snow-covered field, straying slightly apart as they absentmindedly wandered in different directions. Chris was lost in thought, fondly remembering how much time he’d spent on that field, when a shrill “Look alive!” snapped him back into focus. 

He turned back toward Beth just as a snowball nailed him right in the stomach. She burst out laughing with a devilish look in her eyes as she bent down to make another. 

“Well if _that's_ the way it's gonna be...” Chris called as he prepared to retaliate. 

They hurled snowballs back and forth at each other for a few minutes, yelping and laughing, until Beth tripped over her own foot and tumbled back into the snow. Chris raised his fists above his head in victory as he made his way over to help her up. 

“Karma,” she smirked as she dusted snow off her coat. They teased each other a bit more before falling into a nice, comfortable silence again. 

Chris stuffed his cold hands in his pockets, but froze when he felt a particular item that he’d forgotten was in there. His mind raced as he stood there quietly.

Then, as he watched Beth snap a picture of her boot-clad feet in the snow with a content smile on her face, the question he’d been deliberating became perfectly clear. 

He hadn’t exactly planned on doing this today, but standing there in the snow, with her, in the middle of his old baseball field in his hometown, one year to the day after they’d arrived home from the mission that brought them together, he knew he had to. It wouldn’t make sense not to. This was as perfect as it could possibly get. 

“Beth,” he said in a soft, even voice that took her slightly off guard as she faced him and slipped her phone back into her pocket.

Gripping the little box inside his pocket, he spoke again. “I found something in my old room today. Something my grandpa gave to me.” 

Beth’s eyes widened as she focused intently on his face, not because she suspected anything, but because she knew how much his now-deceased grandparents had meant to him. They’d practically raised him for a few extended periods of his childhood. She shifted closer to him, both out of affection and in order to steal some of his warmth against the frigid air. 

Chris finally removed the box from his pocket and opened it as he positioned it toward her. Inside was an antique silver ring with a small red ruby in the middle, pretty, but nowhere close to flashy. 

“He gave this to my grandma on their 40th anniversary, and then he gave it to me when she died. Said I’d figure out what to do with it someday. Honestly, I thought I’d lost track of it, but when I found it today I knew what he meant.” 

He paused to take in Beth’s face as she stared down at the ring, mouth slightly agape and eyes wide as she absorbed his words and the entirety of what was happening. When she noticed his pause, she turned her gaze up to him and felt her eyes swell with tears the second they met his. 

He smiled as he reached for her hand to bring it to where he held the box before speaking again. “You know my grandparents were kind of my whole world growing up, but you’re my whole world now. I don’t think I need to make some big speech, but I am gonna tell you that you’re the love of my life and that spending the rest of my life with you is the easiest decision I’ll ever make.” 

Beth’s free hand had moved to her face, where she rested her glove-covered fingertips next to a teary eye as she nodded. Her lips were pressed tight together with the ends upturned in a small smile, trying to keep her composure until he was done. 

Chris let out a small nerve-filled laugh as he looked over his arm at the snowy ground. “I think my knee might freeze, but... worth it,” he said as he knelt down and then looked back up to her. “So,” he said with a nervous, sweet smile. “Will you marry me?” 

Finally letting herself properly react, Beth exhaled some combination of a laugh and a sob as she nodded over and over. “Yes, god, of course,” she laughed-slash-sobbed as she gripped the collar of his coat to pull him back up. 

He grinned, snapping the case shut as she threw her arms around his neck and pressed their lips together. The momentum from the way he stood up so quickly threw them both a little off balance, and they laughed into their kiss as they stumbled slightly backward. 

Their foreheads still rested against each other as they slowly broke apart, giddy with happiness despite only having each other’s breath to warm them from the cold. “Are you freezing?” Beth asked with a laugh as she moved her glove-covered hands over his bare ears. 

“Nope,” he said with another smile. (So that’s what they meant by “warm and fuzzy on the inside,” huh?) 

She beamed at him a few seconds more, then moved back and started pulling off her gloves. 

“You don’t…” Chris started as he produced the little box again. “You don’t have to wear it if you don’t want, I just want you to have it.” 

“Chris. It’s beautiful. Of course I’m going to wear it. It was your grandmother’s,” Beth said, trailing off as she felt a new set of tears form around her eyes. She _did_ know how much his grandparents had meant to him. Giving her this ring truly was his way of showing her that she now represented everything he held dear. “This is really special,” she finally said, softly and genuinely. 

He smiled a smile she’d never forget before taking her left hand and sliding the ring up her finger. “Well,” he said as he watched her hold up her hand to admire the ring, “You’re really special.” 

She looked up, holding his gaze for a moment, then leaned forward to plant a kiss on his cheek and bury herself in his neck. He responded in kind, wrapping his arms around her tight before just barely lifting her feet off the ground and spinning her around just once. (And when he quickly promised that was the only time he’d ever do that, Beth just laughed into his shoulder and squeezed him tighter.) 

Moments later, Beth wiped a practically frozen tear off her face and reached into her pocket for her phone. Chris watched in amusement as she fumbled with the camera and turned back to him. “I just need to remember everything about this forever,” she said with a small smile. As if she would ever forget. 

Chris pulled her close against his chest, and she captured them both as the happiest they’d ever been. She smiled at the image on the screen, then turned back to him. “That’s just for us,” she said with a promising smile, and he knew what she meant. This was about them, only them, and this had been their moment. There would be other pictures, but that one was for their eyes only. 

Finally surrendering to the cold, they headed back to his parents’ house hand in hand. Rather than tell everyone right away, they decided to wait until someone noticed the ring on Beth’s finger, and they each made bets on how long it would take.

Turns out it’s true that you can’t sneak anything past a kid, because within minutes of taking off their heavy coats and joining the others in the kitchen, Amy’s four year-old son quietly made his way over to Beth’s side, captivated by the shiny object affixed to her finger. 

“Whatcha looking at, hon?” asked Amy. When he pointed at Beth’s hand, Amy let out a loud shriek that brought their dad and aunt running in from the other room. 

Beth laughed and dropped her forehead to Chris’s shoulder, embarrassed by the attention, while he just smiled to himself. 

“Whaaaat?!” Amy exclaimed as she rushed over to grab Beth’s hand amidst the chorus of excited yelps and questions from everyone else. “When did this happen?” 

Chris managed to answer “just now” before Amy’s next round of excited questions. _Where?! Wait, literally just now? Is that Grandma’s ring?!_

After they indulged the group in a brief explanation-- _“Your old baseball field? You dork!”_ \--Amy gasped with a realization. 

“It’s exactly a year since you guys got home, huh?” 

When Beth smiled and nodded, a new chorus of squeals erupted, and Amy gifted Chris a proud punch to the arm. In the midst of congratulatory hugs from everyone, Chris’s mom insisted Beth tell her own parents the news next. 

Just like the idea of marrying each other was something Chris and Beth had discussed plenty of times (even though he’d sweetly made it clear that he wanted to ask her properly), their parents also knew it was only a matter of time before they’d be hearing this particular piece of news. 

So when Beth sent a picture of her ring-clad hand to her mom and dad with the caption _You should probably call me when you get a sec…_ she didn’t feel like she was depriving them of some big reveal or anything like that. She got a video call from them 20 minutes later, and she and Chris curled up in a blanket on the couch and went through the details again. 

When they hung up, Beth let herself collapse against Chris’s side. “How many times are we going to have to do this? I’m already tempted to hand out FAQ cards or something.” 

He laughed and ruffled her hair. “Really. Hey, we should tell the crew.” 

“Yeah, so they’ll finally stop asking,” she joked. There were the occasional ribbings in their group chats about when they were going to make it official, but she knew Chris took even more shit from the guys about when he was going to ask her. 

Chris tightened his grip around her as he brought up the camera on his phone, and Beth positioned her hand where it was visible but not reminiscent of a hand model in a jewelry commercial. Naturally, they both pulled silly faces. 

He fired off the picture into the crew’s ongoing group chat, adding _Happy now?_ as the only comment. Beth smirked when the notification popped up on her phone and she read the caption, and they both sat back to watch the reactions pour in. 

Then the real questioning as to how he proposed began.

“They’re not gonna let up until we tell them,” said Chris. 

Beth groaned. “Rock paper scissors you for who has to type it out.” 

Chris laughed. “Deal.” 

\---

Once the holiday had passed and they’d had the chance to tell anyone who they wouldn’t want to find out over the internet, they shared that same picture with the rest of the world.  


(Watney was still a superstar, but the rest of them had mostly experienced a quick 15 minutes of fame--maybe 20 minutes for Chris and Beth once it became clear they were together. There had been the gossip article or two, but now people mostly left them alone.) 

And finally... 

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pretty please with a cherry on top let me know what you think?

**Author's Note:**

> would love to hear your thoughts on this one, gang.


End file.
